1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to security and encoding techniques and, more particularly, to an authentication device for various types of goods, including papers, inks, plastics, metals, ceramics and the like.
2. The Prior Art
Authentication of stolen or lost items, including paintings as by the masters, has always represented a tedious process, requiring painstaking examination by experts. And even the experts have been proven incorrect at times. Authentication of legitimate paper currency from counterfeit also is not within the purview of most people required to handle the same. And authentication of stock and bond certificates, particularly of bearer bonds of high denominations, can cause troublesome delays to all concerned. Despite the time and effort expended during a thorough examination, the experts nevertheless have proved to be wrong at times, with attendant loss to some and embarrassment to others. With the advent and widespread use of security badges required to gain access to classified areas, the telling of the real from the fake, particularly on-the-spot and without undue delay, has become a challenge indeed. For, long delays in authentication serve to defeat one purpose of a security badge, namely the admission of authorized personnel only, but quickly and without delay.
Present day security and encoding techniques employ, among others, the use of fluorescent materials. When applied to a flat object, these materials are excitable, hence readable, at their respective characteristic wavelengths. Sophisticated thieves of high value paintings and bearer bonds, as well as espionage experts, have managed to overcome and thus "fool" even these safeguards.
Hence, there is a continuing need constantly to improve security and encoding techniques and design a more foolproof system, one which nevertheless allows quick, on-the-spot verification, yet with a high degree of reliability.